#but there is nuance intended

[kingofthewilderwest]

Which fictional character that's not human would you sit down and listen to while they're gabbing?

Answered this as if it's a one-on-one convo instead of a public lecture, etc.

My tolerance for being gabbed at exists because I believe it's respectful. They deserve to feel good about their passions and have those met with attention. It feels amazing to scream about what you love unfettered. On the receiving end, it doesn't always mean I'm enjoying it or that I care about the topic. I also think there are limits... we have to bear in mind who our audience is, detect when we've bored them, or notice when we dominate to the point we're suppressing others and making things, inadvertently or not, focused on oneself.

It's a double wild card when it's a stranger. I've had some of the coolest one-sided conversations with people I encountered at a gas station. And I've had some of the worst. When I think about listening to a fictional character (a stranger) yab on, my instinctive answer is, "None of them? Sounds tedious." Not trying to be mean! I just acknowledge there are imperfect people who believe in being supportive, but don't necessarily relish unfettered monologues.

It's part of what makes me an imperfect friend. 😂😅 It's something I'm over-sensitive to and a hypocrite on. I'm self-conscious about it and trying to work on how I treat others and how to improve my attitude. I talk other peoples' ears off, realize it's selfish and too much, and then might grapple with impatience when I get gabbed at. Not fair when I've just yabbered - I'd rather improve my attitude so I enjoy it more often and can use these as real friendship connections instead of politeness.

(To be clear - there are times I like when friends go off and it depends on the relationship I have with the person.)

Mordin Solus can talk my ears off on any subject. My thoughts don't have any bearing if someone is human or not, so I'll put Newt Geiszler in, too. Newt going off on kaiju would be fun. Part of why I love those characters is their unfettered passion and way they talk. I guess those are my answers!

#unnecessarily long answer as always #non-dragons #analysis #ask #ask me #jayalaw #using words like 'gabbed' instead of 'infodump' for intended nuance - and no NOT to try to imply there's ALWAYS a negative connotation for #long rambles #i doubt the subtlety of my intent will come across #but there is nuance intended

[avanii]

Magmar's design is derpy, but also kinda cute and cool at the same time? It's grown on me. Had a lot of fun painting this fellow! I used acrylic inks this time.

#magmar #realistic pokemon #pokemon art #kanto pokemon #avanii #pokemon fanart #traditional art #I painted this guy mostly because I had mixed too much yellow ink for another painting and didn't want it to go to waste haha #scanning reds is always so hard I don't think the colour nuances came over entirely as intended but ah well #avanii's art

[boywifesammy]

imagine repressed & closeted transfem dean who never figures it out. imagine the sheer amount of guilt, fear, self-hatred and disgust he’d feel at what he is. big, clunky, dangerous. he takes comfort in his power, but it makes him feel sick. when he looks into the mirror and sees his hard edges, his body feels like it’s trying to rip open from the inside, yet he has no idea why.

dean plays his father’s wife until he dies. he takes care of sam and raises him as if he’s his own son. he’s a housewife in everything but reality. he desperately wants family, desperately wants to nurture, but his body isn’t built for that.

he’s taught by john and the world that he has to be strong. he has to be a man. he can never show emotion, because it’ll only be a weakness, and weakness is deadly. dean can never have a family because his body is wrong and he can never love like a woman because he cannot be weak.

so dean holds tight to those little moments of female connection with sam and his father like a dirty secret. he lays in bed at night and pretends he doesn’t think about being softer and lovelier. he stares at himself in motel mirrors until it makes him sick. he builds muscle and crops his hair short because this thing inside of him terrifies the hell out of him and he has to do anything to keep it at bay.

women comment on his looks a lot. when he’s young, they call him pretty, beautiful, gorgeous. they compliment his soft green eyes and plush lips and spattering of freckles. secretly, dean loves it. it makes that thing inside of him flare up in joy, which is why he knows that this is dangerous, and not something to be indulged. he stays up at night obsessing. shaves every morning and runs his fingers over his soft cheeks, flutters his long eye lashes, tries to find the soft edges of his cheekbones.

this thing is slowly eating away at him. the closer he gets to it the more volatile he feels. he jerks off under the blankets with a hand over his mouth to stifle the gasping, whimpery sounds he makes. the sound of his own voice scares him. his throat chokes up when a guy hits on him and john gives him a glare. one time he puts a finger up his ass and comes so hard that he sees stars, not because of the stimulation, but just from the idea of being wet and slick and pliant between his legs.

dean loves women and it makes him feel sick to the very core. he wishes that he loved women in a normal way. instead, he sees their curvy bodies and an awful, disgusting mixture of greed-lust-jealousy rocks through him. it’s all a strange, roundabout way of wrecking himself, because it’s extremely easy to play the role they want him to play, but god if it doesn’t hurt like hell.

dean loves fucking women. he’s desperate in bed but he’s always sure to be gentle with his thrusts. it makes him feel less disgusting. he likes shoving his face into a chick’s pussy, eating her out until she’s dripping, or nuzzling into the crook of her neck as he fucks her wet cunt. he likes listening to their gasping whines and moans. the feeling of it all makes his teeth clench with guilt; her cunt on his dick, his strong thighs, the way she keeps moaning his name. but it’s so easy to pretend in moments like these.

dean puts his face into her hair, and smells her citrus shampoo as she wails out cries. he doesn’t imagine being her, but he focuses on her noises, on the softness of her body and the wetness of her pussy. he always cums silently, his entire body quivering and shaking, because he’s too scared of the noise that’d come out of his mouth if he opened it.

when rhonda hurley makes him wear her panties, he nearly throws up on her carpet from how hard his heart is beating. they’re silky on his dick. rhonda calls him pretty, beautiful, she strokes at his flaccid penis through the panties and kisses messy lines up his belly. dean is hard and shivering by the end of her teasing, leaking through the panties and flushed from head to toe.

rhonda is both the best fuck that dean ever has and his worst fears coming to life. she calls him good girl as he fucks her. it ends embarrassingly early. when dean cums, it’s with a gasping cry of her name and a girly little keen that haunts his nightmares. he doesn’t remember ever cumming so hard in his life. he shook with aftershocks for minutes after, dazed and disgusted with himself.

rhonda gives dean her number. he never calls her back. after dean leaves that town, he burns the panties and stops shaving his stubble so short. memories of rhonda make him angry. he sinks into hunting and drinks until he’s cross-eyed. dean takes solace in the horror of violence. he bathes himself in that disgust and he feels right at home in the middle of it.

sometimes, dean can’t sleep at night from how sick he feels. he tries to figure out why, but he can’t place the reason. it eats him up inside. makes him feel like a monster. he thinks that he may just be a disgusting freak of a man.

as dean gets older the comments about him getting pretty melt away. he knows he’s objectively extremely attractive, in a male model sort of way, but it doesn’t match up with the images in his head.

the thoughts get more and more humiliating as time goes on. he’s not a twink anymore and he can’t be fantasizing about being fem, but he can’t stop it. he stays up at night itching in his own skin, brutally aware that he’d look hideous and disgusting in anything girly. his body is too big and bulky. he’s a freak for being into that sort of thing.

dean eventually admits to himself that he might be a little gay. he keeps it on the dl, visits gay bars when they hit more liberal cities, and doesn’t ever repeat the same place. he likes being dressed up and bent over. he chalks it all up to a crossdressing fetish, and while that’s humiliating and sickening, it’s easier than having to deal with whatever it is that’s going on with him.

dean aches inside perpetually because he is flawed. he wants to hold his child in his arms and wear dresses and flirt shamelessly with men. he knows he’s a freak for it but he’s accepted that he’s going to perpetually live with this pain.

he gets older and older and the dysphoria gets so fucking bad that he can’t even look in the mirror anymore, but it doesn’t matter at this point. he’s completely disconnected himself from his body. he’s a sick, perverted freak in the body of a man and none of it feels right. he uses his body like a tool, a weapon, and he purposefully keeps it masculine and well-toned to push back any illusions that he’s anything but a man.

and sometimes, he’ll go to gay bars and let himself get railed to incoherence. he’ll drive three towns over while sam’s asleep and put on his makeup in an alleyway nearby. he always looks for men bigger than him. men who’ll call him pretty and beautiful and treat his ass like a cunt.

and if he’s lucky, maybe they’ll let some other words slip. maybe they’ll call him babygirl or darling or play with his pecs like tits as they pound him deep. and sometimes, if he’s really lucky, he’ll get to wear something pink and lacy. sheer panties. a bralet. stockings or a necklace.

he always cums in the first few minutes on those nights. he doesn’t mind being fucked until the other guy finishes, as long as he keeps calling him a good girl for taking it.

dean always throws up in the club bathroom afterwards. he spends hours wiping off all the makeup from his face and sleeps in the impala for the night. he gives himself another wipe the morning after and tells sam that he was out with a one night stand. it technically isn’t a lie.

one time, sam makes a joke about dean being a woman. he pushes. he calls him a pretty lady, and dean is horrified when his eyes wet a bit at it. he can’t take it. he starts the fight, but sam wins it. he pins dean down and starts to yell at him. then he sees that dean is crying. he isn’t making any noise or shaking, but his cheeks are wet.

don’t, is all he says. it hurts like hell to get out. sam seems confused, but he doesn’t question it. he doesn’t make the joke again. dean forgets about the whole thing and pretends he doesn’t feel the weird looks sam sends him sometimes.

dean dies like that, alone and angry, in a body that’s all hard edges and grief and hatred.

he’s the same in heaven. he can’t imagine being any other way. he doesn’t even know what he wants, what would make him happy. most days, he’s happy with driving his impala aimlessly, drinking while watching sunsets and tuning into the world around him. thinking, and thinking, and thinking. about rhonda hurley and her satin panties and his father and the soft, warm thing buried inside of him.

dean doesn’t know why he feels sick inside when he looks at himself, but he’s too broken to ever figure it out. the only thing that he knows is that he doesn’t feel guilt the same in heaven. that means that when he has those strange dreams of warm kisses, strong arms around his tiny waist, and the warm, beating heat of his child’s heart against his own pillowed chest, he can spend some time in bed in the morning trying to recollect the memories without hating himself for it.

#oc #supernatural #spn meta #transfem dean winchester #mtf dean winchester #sam winchester #character analysis #trans headcanon #me ramblibg incoherently again about tbe nuance and intricacy of trans winchesters #this ended up WAYYY longer than i intended #but god my heart HURTS just thinking about her #transfem dean is so uniquely devastating she tears me up inside #i use he/him prns for her here because it works better with context #and she never actually comes to terms with her gender #but god i love her to bits she’s my little girlie

[antianakin]

I am BAMBOOZLED by the theory that Anakin was mind-controlled by Palpatine, honestly, and it's literally everywhere. The whole story falls apart if Anakin isn't a selfish, greedy, powerhungry fascist. Like this is literally the CORE of Anakin's story, that he's selfish and greedy and lusts for power over others. Just because he's a sweet 9 year old doesn't mean he can't grow up into a nightmare. How many times have you watched the news after someone commits a terrible crime and their parents are sobbing that they never saw this coming, he was such a sweet little boy, etc etc. People grow up, and kids who have a rosy view of the world grow up to be not such nice people anymore. It happens. Anakin's a piece of shit, so stop taking the fascism out of him, it's essential to the entire franchise.

#star wars #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #like i GET the 'padme was mind-controlled' theory even if i don't think it's canon at all and don't personally ascribe to it #but at least i get it #padme being mind-controlled doesn't really fundamentally change the entire message of the story #like it removes some of the nuance that her relationship with anakin is intended to have of course #but since the story isn't about her that's less of an issue #but ANAKIN? #like the only way to save anakin from being an irredeemable fuckhead is to pretend he was mind-controlled instead apparently #okay #you do you i guess #but don't pretend it's canon

[rollercoasterwords]

I have, a genuine question for you. Do you acknowledge the racism in the original AYTD or at least know about it? Like how MsKingBean uses slurs and racist stereotypes?

hey, so, i'm a bit apprehensive about answering this because...it doesn't feel like a very geniune question to me, if i'm being honest. "do you acknowledge x thing" is a question that is inherently set up so that i'm meant to answer "yes, i acknowledge that x thing is true," because the alternative is saying "no, i don't acknowledge that x thing is true," which is already framing this interaction as if to disagree with you would be a kind of failure on my part to do some due diligence of engaging critically with a text. and the fact that you say mskingbean89 used slurs in atyd shows me that you haven't even engaged with the text, because that simply...isn't true.

if what you're referring to when you say "slurs" is the anti-romani stereotypes--this is coming from an extra chapter in the bootleg tapes focusing on greyback, where there is a slur used to describe his living situation + he + his family were portrayed as nomadic irish people in a way that was insensitive. people who read that chapter and then went back to the canon story with that characterization in mind rightfully pointed out that it was fucked-up. mskingbean89 addressed those criticisms by adding this note to the beginning of that bootleg chapter:

personally, i think this was a good way to take accountability + acknowledge the mistakes she made with that portrayal. she was a human being who made an ignorant mistake, which then just happened to get absolutely blasted to millions of people--she did not have sensitivity readers or editors looking over her fanfiction, because she did not write it expecting it to reach the level of popularity that it has. to be honest, i am not really sure how she could have better acknowledged her mistake, aside from just....not having made it in the first place. she explains her intentions without acting as though that intent cancels out harm, owns up to the fact that the stereotyping was harmful regardless of intention, and provides resources to learn while also committing to be more mindful + educate herself moving forward. honestly, that's exactly the response i would hope to see from someone who makes a mistake like this one.

i agree with you that people reading atyd should acknowledge + understand the racism regarding romani stereotypes stemming from that bootleg chapter, which is why i think it's great that there is a note literally built into the beginning of that chapter acknowledging it! but i feel as though there's been this like...game of telephone happening online when it comes to atyd, where there are now people who have never even read the story talking about things that quite literally do not appear in the base text itself. i've also seen people acting as though mkb herself did not address these issues when they were raised to her, which is just...patently false.

and so what i'm wondering here is what you're looking for from me when you ask a question like "do you acknowledge the racism in atyd." anyone who actually reads the texts has to acknowledge the racism in that bootleg chapter, because mkb puts that acknowledgment front and center at the beginning. and also like...in the part of the fandom i'm in, in the conversations i've listened to or taken part of regarding atyd, people have acknowledged the issues with that bootleg chapter and the ways it reflects back on the main story. so what do you mean by "acknowledge" when so many people, including mkb herself, have already... acknowledged it? what action are you calling for, and who are you calling for it from?

because like. if what u actually want to say here is that atyd is Irredeemably Problematic and we should all like....shun it? universally agree that it's Bad? then it's just like. it is up to each individual reading the story to decide whether that specific portrayal of greyback in the bootleg chapters is something that ruins the story completely for them or whether they still think the story as a whole holds worth. personally, i feel like i can acknowledge that there are issues with mkb's portrayal of greyback and i need to be mindful of that when reading the story so as not to internalize harmful stereotypes while still finding atyd to be a masterpiece that really beautifully deals with a lot of nuanced issues regarding class and disability and systems of power. this is just part of thinking critically when you read; many famous and beloved works of fiction contain the biases of their authors or have mistakes or issues in the way they portray things that are a product of ignorance. and i know everyone reading marauders fanfiction should understand this, because if u genuinely think that a character being negatively stereotyped means u should throw the entire work in the trash, then none of u would be touching harry potter fanfiction with a five foot pole in the first place.

so, anon - if you have actually read atyd, and there are issues with racism that you have found that i am unaware of, and not just telephone-game twitter posts of people taking shit out of context that you're accepting as truth without bothering to engage with the work yourself--if you want to have a real conversation about it, i would invite you to come to me as an actual person and not an anonymous ghost in my inbox. my dms are open, but when it comes to talking about serious issues, i tend to find it more genuine if the person coming to me actually cares enough and believes in what they're saying enough to say it as themself. and if you haven't read atyd and are just parroting things you've heard other people say online then i would invite you to actually sit down and read the work and form your own opinions on it before getting back to me. i know that might sound harsh, but honestly i'm just completely fed-up at this point with all the bad-faith takes and misinformation that i've seen people spreading about atyd just because they think it's cool to dislike a popular thing.

#mkb is literally a human being who never intended for her story to get as popular as it has #i think the people who villainize her for likes on their twitter posts seem to forget that #and i'm not going to take part in some sort of smear campaign being run by people who brag about not even having read the story #i'm happy to acknowledge issues i find in a work. but i typically do that privately. in conversations with other people who have read it #because as i have said a million times there is never a reason for publicly shitting on fics regardless of how popular they get #it's not like mkb is profiting in any way from her story. in fact she has literally had to deal with awful harassment #and most of the 'critiques' i see about atyd are either bad-faith criticism or things that literally are not true. so!! #here's ur acknowledgment anon but if what ur looking for is for me to condemn mkb....sorry but that's not happening #i love atyd and think it's an amazing work of fiction. and i think mkb did a beautiful job exploring + portraying #many nuanced + sensitive issues. if u read the work and feel differently that's fine! #but that doesn't change the fact that it's fanfic....and that u should address any problems u have with it with fic etiquette in mind #ask #ranting and raving

[decamarks]

The fake game anomalies post is amazing, how did you get the videos to look so convincing as working video games?

AHHH thank you so much!!! ^u^ I think a lot of it comes down to just knowing and keeping the way video games work in mind while animating, as well as being aware of what limitations the 'game' would have.

The games in my post were meant to resemble games with graphics somewhere between the PSX and original Xbox (Playstation 1.5, essentially), so I tried to keep poly counts close to what you'd expect for something of that era, used subdivision sparingly, and composited them with varying levels of pixelation effects to resemble game engine aliasing. Since these nonexistent games are for nonexistent consoles, I didn't try to adhere to what the actual technology would/wouldn't allow, and instead focused on what you might expect to see. Game-like lighting in particular is tricky to nail down and I definitely could've made it more 'accurate' with further adjustments, but overall I thought it was okay. As long as you think it looks visually appealing, I think it's fine. (Also it's kind of hard to be accurate to something that doesn't actually exist, LOL)

That's more about the technical side though, and like I said, you can fudge a lot of that stuff since, y'know—it's not an actual game. I think what really makes something like this more convincing is simply conveying aspects of how the game is played or being played; stuff like seemingly functional UI elements, or a player's actions appearing to influence the game in some way.

Interactivity is what distinguishes games as a medium, so this is the key component to keep in mind. Most media doesn't tend to involve active influence from its observers because the medium simply can't accommodate such a thing; printed ink and paper isn't as infinitely malleable as pixels and bytes. So things should be designed as if they are able to be altered or interacted with, even if an actual 'player' is absent. You don't need to build the engine—you just need to imply that it exists, and operates.

In my little clips, I tried to pay special attention to the supposed 'player' as well. You can't see them directly, but rather through proxy of the character or cursor they're controlling. In the first clip, the player character quickly stutters in movement, shown as a sudden stop and start in their walk cycle. You would never have a character move like this in a normal animation because it's unnatural and nonsensical on its own. But in the context of a video game, this movement is instantly recognizable. The player is pausing, tilting, and flicking the analog stick to get a better look at something—or to get away from it.

The character isn't programmed to stop and squint, and the camera isn't programmed to cut to a shot of their shocked face. The character is only a puppet for the player to interface with the game's world, and the unpredictability of a player cannot be accounted for in a preprogrammed narrative. These movements appear nonsensical and unnatural because they represent something not entirely intended. This is only one manifestation of the infinite movement possibilities within a game engine.

It's something trying to be expressed by someone that does not have the direct means to do so. But even indirectly, you can tell what is being expressed, because nothing would move like this by itself. It implies the existence of certain things beyond what is directly observable: a controller and constraints—the player, and the programming.

I think the moment you assume a player exists is the moment it becomes a game.

#tl;dr: i think way too much about this kind of thing and you can probably ignore like half of this post. #I COULD GO ON ABOUT THIS LITERALLY FOREVER. the nuances of games as a medium are so near and dear to me and infinitely fascinating. AAGHHHH #it's honestly interesting to me that a lot of people actually found these convincing... #half because i wasn't entirely intending for them to be convincing; half because i could point out at least 100 inconsistencies in each LOL #but i guess those inconsistencies become a lot more apparent when you're the one who's creating them... such an interesting thing

[fandomsoda]

Last night someone said something that was somewhat yikesy and it just got blind likes and stuff from everyone else.

This is not a call-out post. This is not here to belittle or shame the person in question and I hope that is understood. I’m currently working on a much larger post to address this issue broadly because it is an issue that is bigger than one person’s bad take and I already have attempted to explain why the take is… wrong and very evident of a lack of understanding of how the topic at hand works because I see it from many people.

but y’all I am pretty disappointed. Because everyone just sat there and accepted that claim. And it shows y’all have a lot of learning to do when it comes to understanding of the caveats of life and social issues and oppression.

For now I will just say this.

A member of a minority making a member of the majority uncomfortable or being rude to them regarding their identity IS NOT EQUAL TO OPPRESSION. Is it nice? Probably not. Should a minority person have to be polite in order to have what they say be valid? Hell no. Are there times where what’s being said is wrong? Yes. Are the majority person’s feelings hurt? Maybe. Is that oppression? No.

There is no heterophobia, there is no cisphoba, to my knowledge y’all seem to understand that. So you should understand it regarding other situations. Because that group has the systematic upper hand, it’s punching up, not punching down.

of course there are always complexities and caveats and exceptions to rules, but broadly that’s how it usually works.

And insinuating that minorities fighting back or being somewhat rude to their oppressors is “oppression” is not only insensitive and offensive, it is downright harmful to that minority. It might hurt their feelings, it might not be nice, hell it might even be too cruel or wrong, but it’s still not oppression. And I know people who hold this take are not intentionally being harmful or cruel and I know you may feel the urge to defend yourself, that’s human, but stop and wait before getting defensive. Understand that you are not under attack. No one is calling you a bad person. And chances are that you aren’t. You are simply being criticized. And I know that can be hard to handle, but in order to grow and become better people and better at understanding the world around us we must be willing to accept that sometimes we are wrong.

That’s all for now but this is just a small, specific part of a wider issue I’m noticing.

Do better, people. I understand you’re gonna make mistakes and mistakes are a part of learning but you’ve gotta be willing to learn and understand the matter. Because if you don’t learn now from someone who is being very gentle about it, you might have to learn it later from someone who is not nearly as patient or nice. Or you may never learn at all. And that’s not good either.

final note- please do not attempt to go looking for and shame the “someone” in question. Do not mention them in the notes either if you know who I may be referring to. They have responded very well to this criticism and should not be attacked for something they are willing to get better on.

#text post #small psa #praying that I phrased this well and clearly #no condescension is intended at all I’m just trying to explain #And I know I didn’t go in-depth with all the nuances of specific stuff but I wanted this post to be somewhat short and to the point

[spicyicymeloncat]

Tumblr pls be normal about morally complex characters. Stop going 0 or 100 on their morality. Stop ignoring the interesting and unique story telling being presented to you in favour of going “nono that’s my UwU sugar plum sweet baby boi baby, disregard the canon bc I actually only want wholesome vibes from my horror games”

#fnaf spoilers #fnaf ruin spoilers #yeah this is is about eggory #bc the way people are trying to make it out that Gregory is actually the nicest child ever and he can do no wrong because he’s a child #is so simplistic and boring man #from what I gathered this is a pushback against matpat who thinks Gregory is an evil robot #and like y’all are valid to hate matpat but don’t stoop to the man’s level and play into his poorly analysed videos that are just made to #get a reaction and get clicks #imo gregory could totally pull an asshole move and let his friends die if it was for the greater good and that doesn’t mean I hate him #Gregory has been shown to make sacrifices #and he could have an arguably good reason to do what he did #the mimic was dangerous and would’ve killed multiple if loose #for the record I don’t think he intended Cassie to die I think his mic cut out and the elevator fell on its own #i don’t think it was the mimic either btw bc narratively that just kills the momentum #I’m just tired of people uwuifying gregboy so much #and accusing the game of wrongly portraying him as evil bc it just seems like #it seems like mischaracterisation idk #I’m not saying Gregory is mean or murderous for no reason either #he’s nuanced and there’s reasons for why he’s like this #sorry if this isn’t tagged right

[tritoch]

me: oh wow an ffxiv theory/meta post! i love these even when i don't agree with them. i wonder if this person will highlight an underdiscussed aspect of the setting, or reframe someone's characterization interestingly the post: "in the original japanese--" me: unsubscribed. blocked. reported. hie thee hence and never darken my door again.

#ffxiv #it's written in tokyo! we are talking about people who if they had a translation question could *walk down the hall and ask the writer* #it's not the english version's fault that you're a coward who's afraid of subtext and subtler characterization #even if it was intended as direct translation 99% of you lack the japanese fluency to appreciate any degree of nuance #and you frankly clearly can't appreciate nuance in english to begin with! so how could you know if it's conveyed correctly. #my favorite example is haurchefant. a lot of people complain about him being 'toned down' in english #which 1) he is. it's culturally necessary. if EN haurchefant talked about your sweat and offered you a 'warm bed' he'd be loathed #he'd come off as sexually aggressive towards women and as bad mlm rep. fans would DESPISE him. #different audiences have different values. he has to be written slightly differently to land in the same way he does in the original. #2) no he's really not. like sure the text of his lines gets toned down. but he's still absurdly into you. he's still a weirdo thrillseeker #there's still SHIRTLESS MEN WORKING OUT IN HIS OFFICE LOL #a lot of people complain that the english version is too aggressive or people are too mean and it's like...these are different contexts #like there's sooo many alisaie lines where people are like 'she's more of a cute tsundere in jp she's mean in english' and like. #alisaie is 100% an american tsundere in english. the localization team just knows how tsundere archetypes come off in english #which is to say straightforward tsundere shit tends to scan in english as either incredibly childish or cumbrained nonsense #and they have in turn written her with just a slightly lighter hand and more culturally intelligibly in english #she's a teenage girl who covers her sensitivity and inability to stop caring by putting on an abrasive front. that's a tsundere #alisaie is sort of an insane feat of localization. new levels of technology previously unheard of #'alisaie is like my badass wlw little sister' okay...yes. let's go with that. please ignore the ass shots in the trailers.

[darcyolsson]

I really truly mentally blocked out so much of city of ashes I think. and I now know why. someone get me out of here

#why is jace fully down to simply run off and date his sister 😭😭😭😭😭 man i hate these mf books #once again i think she did not intend to romanticise it like jace is literally full on self harming on screen all the time #and for clary theres even less nuance she actually thinks its very fucked up and doesnt want to see jace at all #however. to anyone who is less normal than me its absolutely 100% possible to read it in that romanticising way #like sure theres loads of hints that they arent actually related but if you dont want to see that. well #man i really thought the worst of it was that one city of glass quote. I WAS WRONG. #vic reads tmi

[jordankennedy]

sick freaks who suck are compelling to me what can i say

#i think it’s a little more nuanced than this though #like i joke around and stuff but it’s like. when it comes down to it he had no way of knowing what was going to happen #would it have happened if they hadn’t gone up there? maybe not. but it WAS mike crew’s fault more than anyone else’s #and it’s pretty obvious by the tone of the statement and stephen’s stated desire for revenge that the guilt of it is eating him alive #is he kind of an asshole. yeah. is he not a very good brother. yeah #but i don’t think he hated his brother and i don’t think any of what happened was intended on his part #at least not consciously

[pinkpruneclodwolf]

For the Malleus thing: it's overexposure on my answer. Malleus is a main staple character that has a lot of fans compared to say: Cater or Kalim. Of course, Octavinelle matches in turn for numbers with Malleus but Malleus also has a dedicated shipping fandom that are so attached to him that they cause... problems.

Shipping is fine in moderation but when I see enough people start fighting that this fictional character is "their" man and not someone else's OC, I know Malleus has had too much time in their head or something warped him. I like shopping and run a sort famous /Reader blog for all genders, and that gives me insight into who people kinda want on that side and Malleus is very famous. Shipping aside, Malleus also has such diehard fans that... they forget his CHARACTER!

Malleus' fandom is the same as Octavinelle (woobifying/creeps flooding in) and now bleeding in Savanaclaw (creeps flooding in/racism against dark skinned OC's): the story is revealing that Malleus isn't gap moe and is an actual character that can do wrong, and hurt people... and they HATE that. I've seen four people drop Malleus like a hat because he was didn't understand what he was doing wrong in the Dorm Uniform. Malleus has had a rigid set of understanding of creatures and it's very straightforward instead of nuanced, and even Malleus admits that he wants to try and projects that his advancement on human understanding will only take 100 years. That's fair considering he's been in the human world for 3 FREAKING YEARS, guys. I believe if we were given how long it took Lilia to understand a human customs outside of Silver experience, it'd not do anything to people's opinions. Because to them, it's not about him learning. He doesn't know so he's obviously a BAD CHARACTER, that must be it! "He's a jerk and now I'm going to do a 180° on my own Malleus opinion that is all over my blog and gave my followers whiplash, starting a bashing war by actually not doing a proper review of his character!" No. That's unfair. Why?

Malleus is an interesting character and I'm so sad that he's gone so far into the fandom that he's been woobified and there is no self warn anything: no disclaimer that this is a more romantic Malleus compared to the canon one, or people admitting that Malleus might be OOC as his character reads so incomplete because they write him so... wrong? I think my real problem is the tail end of fandoms that radicalize and throw Malleus around as something he isn't, and that's okay to a certain degree (my /Reader blog acknowledged that Malleus is a canon as I can do without just being Readers buddy, which he's more likely to be in canon). It's just... people are too radical, I think.

I fear the wars this man will create when Chapter 7, Part 3 shows he's got more flaws then he does. I can see a Rook Chapter 5 happening. :(

But I'm not all pessimistic, I know the right fandom should be encouraged and the minority should be ignored, so I know whatever Yana/Aniplex gives us: I support. I know common artists, writer's, editors are all doing fine and I interact normally, but I hate the "drop him" culture these games have in the EN side.

Oh no I get you.

Malleus by himself is an interesting character in his own right, without needing to be steeped in fanon.

I do think that because he was left to stew on his own with pieces of content to hold Mallelikers over, people ended up turning him into their own character to fit their own needs.

And in some ways it's kinda meta because that was something he was trying to escape his whole life so that he could be welcomed by those around him.

I'm usually not as steeped in the fandom as I used to be what w college and stuff creeping up but I'm genuinely sorry that everyone has experienced some form of harassment from both sides of the fence bc one hc didn't fit the other's or the argument of whether his character is good enough or not.

It's disheartening to see others get jumped because of how strongly they feel towards a character and its horrible that you have to endure that on your page anon.

I'm honestly praying Malleus doesn't go through what Rook went thru because that moment is still be felt to this day due to how decisive it was 😭😭😭.

And it's funny bc Rook not choosing Vil was supposed to give Vil growth, who was so hard pressed on winning to the point that he'd contemplated killing his opponent and subsequently Overblotted. The point was that Vil wasn't supposed to win because it'd feed into him. It was a lesson.

With Malleus' Dorm Vignette, I'd argue that him summoning the other dorm leaders was a long time coming considering they weren't doing any affirmative actions to ensure that Malleus could attend. He brought them to him because it was the only thing he could think of; he's not good with technology, time is a construct to him, and no student is willing to approach him for the fun of it unless it's to get smth out of it. It was mostly an act of burning the village to feel its warmth tho it wasn't out of malicious intent.

In the end I can reason he was still partially wrong, he only considered brainstorming with Lilia [and Lilia, a jokester that he is, encouraged him.] Instead of talking to Crowley.

But I do think that Malleus being the poster boy has led to him being so oversaturated in the fandom that a lot of his personality is lost in translation once more.

I liken it to Ace Trappola. Fanon!Ace played up his worst traits to the max without allowing the nuance of his character growth to shine thru. Luckily, Ace is in the recovery period but the same cannot be said for Floyd 😭😭😭.

My most basic observation is that popularity takes the nuance out of characters and I'm hoping against hope that Chapter 7 shows a new side of Malleus that sets the record straight bc as someone who loves character studies watching Malleus get chopped and screwed is 🥶🥶🥶.

#malleus draconia #diasomnia #twst #twisted wonderland #scream into the void and i'll answer #i actually value the twist (pun intended) of Rook choosing neige over Vil #one because it exemplifies that Heroes will always win #but because it was a lesson for Vil who had threw everything away #and i can give Vil the venefit of the doubt in that losing all the time makes u resentful #but if he hadn'r thrown it all away he wouldve had a significantly better chance against Neige #Rook even said that the group was tired and he could see it in their performance #Rook couldnt reward that because he values putting your best foot forward #And while i love to harp on the tragedy of Malleus being such a divisive character even in his own fandom #Malleus is still a flawed character who does feed into the fears of those around him #whether it be purposefully or inadvertently #and thats where the nuance begins #he's a person who has lived his whole life in stagnation w little change #and faced with the prospect of loss #He flips #for someone who had wanted to experience some semblance of normalcy like the humans around him he failed to consider loss #also back on my point on Vil #not blaming him because i wouldve done worst #My most lukewarm take is that Vil wasnt meant to win in Chapter 5

[kingofthewilderwest]

While it’s important to consider that abuse can be physical and/or emotional, I think it’s also good to remember:

A tense period with someone does not necessarily mean abuse

A friendship that’s turned sour or become emotionally draining does not necessarily mean abuse

A hella painful falling out does not necessarily mean abuse

Unkind or hateful words does not necessarily mean abuse

Interactions that directly cause someone pain does not necessarily mean abuse

I want to be clear: These can be part of an abusive experience. This is neither excusing nor downplaying bad actions. It’s important to know these can be red flags and indicators for abuse. Furthermore, a person’s intentions do not determine whether or not they’re an abuser.

My point is that a relationship with miscommunications, frustrations, sour moments, etc. is not necessarily abusive. I feel like lots of posts equate conflict with abuse, tensions with abuse, strained relations with abuse. It’s not that cut and dry. The bar isn’t set that low. Not all periods of pain and toxicity are abuse! They’re still unfun, they’re still bad, but abuse is a specific experience! It’s good to recognize strained periods happen even in the best relationships, and that there’s a difference between that and the cycle of abuse, the pattern of abuse, the impacts of abuse.

Relationship bad =/= abuse

Or, all abusive relationships are bad, but not all bad relationship experiences are abuse.

If you default to calling all uncomfortable interactions abuse, you’re going to miss opportunities of personal growth and you’re going to lack wisdom identifying how to handle these interactions.

#technically this is about me seeing a post re: a movie that interprets a strained relationship as abuse even though it's not #anyway it's a good general PSA and I hope the nuance comes out #I'm too tired to talk about what abuse *IS* but hopefully people will read the message and not strawman this #though this is tumblr sooooOoOoo #anyway I love y'all and none of this is intended to be aggressive #unless you want to call it aggressive love #(and this includes an intention to be kind and patient with the post I'm indirectly 'responding' to) #I get so worried for y'all when you look at any bad or strained relationship and go to the extreme word 'abuse' to describe it #instead of look at the world with nuance and all the variations that can happen in unpleasant interactions #I hope I don't sound forceful or 'i know everything'ish about that 'cause I don't mean it that way

[smartzelda]

Having one of those moments where I'm mildly obsessed with my own fic and am waiting at the edge of my seat trying not to foam at the mouth at the edge of my enclosure for someone to ask questions or do analysis on it

#me: *packs fic with symbolism and/or nuance* Okay now we wait for someone to become obsessed so I can feed off of the delicious questioning #and pointing out of funky things I did or may have intended to work into it

[who-the-fuck-knows-blog]

[post that directly states/implies that izzy saying ‘a shark did this’ was him admitting that he is responsible for everything ed did to him and thats part of his character growth]

good fucking lord

#i think there’s more nuanced takes that could be made #i think this is probably not the intended point of that scene #but at this point i dont trust the narrativs #to be able to handle nuance wrt trauma and abusive situations #which is like. its a comedy #idk #but victim blaming is not a good look #did izzy trigger ed??? yes #is he RESPONSIBLE for ed SHOOTING him?????? #what?????? #no????? #like im not a fan of lucius calling out the fictionalization of his trauma but not the self-blame #and the narrative reenforcing that he Deserved it. no one does #ed didnt deserve it when izzy said fucked up bad things to him #izzy didnt deserve being fed his toes #or shot #god. is this really like. not obvious. fuck! #ofmd s2 #izzy hands #ed teach

[byeler]

i generally agree with the sentiment of the post about liking v reblogging, but i think at its core the issue is about being able to get work out there and seen by other people. i mean this with all the respect in the world as a big fan of your work, but i’d imagine as the author of the number one kudos’d byler fic in the world (no small feat and a testament to your skill seriously) you have established a solid platform for yourself. i think overall it’s a very interesting discussion and like i said, i agree with you! no one is entitled to an engagement, regardless of the merit of their work. i just also think this adds an extra layer that’s interesting to explore. i hope this comes across as respectful, and my fr deepest apologies if not. all the love.

i do fully understand where you're coming from, but i also was not joking when i mentioned that i've said this before. if you can't tell by the date or the fact that post got a whopping three notes, i really did not carry the same presence back then that i do now. any reblog on any post or fic of mine was (and still is!!) incredibly valuable to me. i know how important it is to encourage and share fics you enjoy because that is what did and still does continue to help me. i promise i didn't post that because i want to stop people from interacting with things that they enjoy.

what really, really bothers me is the guilt trips. i absolutely endorse and support posts that say "hey, if you want your favorite authors/artists/theorists to continue to create more of what you like, reciprocate and interact with them". what i do not condone is posts that boil down to "this fandom is dying because YOU are not reblogging enough" when there are several reasons that someone might just not want to reblog. and i just don't feel like my desire for engagement overrules anyone else's desires for what they want to do on their own blog.

at the end of the day, if i post a piece of writing for free on the internet, it's already written. while getting feedback often feels like a reward for the work i've put in, i've already done the work. if someone wants to read it and enjoy it and then choose not to like or reblog or kudos or comment or acknowledge it in any way, i still don't lose anything from that. i might not gain anything, either, but that is not a loss, because i'm not entitled to someone else's time. and on the flip side, it gives me a huge amount of appreciation for those that do take the time to otherwise engage with my work, because i know it's not a requirement, it's something they wanted to do.

i know it might sound like i'm coming from a place of privilege (?) being able to say this, and i won't fully disagree with you on that, but it's something i've felt strongly about long before my writing really had any sort of traction. i also want to be clear that i can only speak for myself, and that many other authors and artists likely disagree with me on this topic. but i simply do not want anyone to feel pressured to force some sort of interaction with me for whatever reason, regardless of how much they like my fics.

#also pls don't worry you came across fine and i'm never gonna be upset for someone disagreeing/expressing their thoughts respectfully #there's definitely nuance to this #i always try to rb fics and art with detailed tags of what i loved/leave long comments because i know how important they are #but sometimes i just don't have the energy!! #sometimes i like a post intending to come back to it later but i forget about it and never do #sometimes i like a post because i like it but i don't want it on my blog #like. there are a thousand reasons. and getting upset with someone for not immediately spreading their work just comes across as so. nasty #i know it sucks when something you've worked hard on flops. it's happened to me!! multiple times!!! #but there are other ways to encourage engagement that don't include stomping your feet and demanding more from your audience. #ok i have rambled enough but i am open to more discussion on this if anyone is so inclined